Microcontact printing is a technique that can provide for the patterning of a material surface with an elastomeric stamp that has a surface coated with a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) forming molecular species. The stamping surface is placed against a surface of material and is removed to leave a self-assembled monolayer on the surface of the material according to a pattern on the stamping surface. These transferred chemical species can be used for a variety of purposes including cell adhesion, etch resists, patterning for plating and for the formation of microcircuits.
For example, techniques used to form microstamped patterns on surfaces using an elastomeric stamp are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,131, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Several techniques are described in which an elastomeric stamping surface, for example, polydimethylsiloxane, is coated with a molecular species capable of forming a SAM. The surface of the stamp may include a plurality of very small protrusions and dispersed with indentations and when this surface is brought into contact with an appropriate surface, for example, a gold coated chip, the molecular species may be transferred to the other surface in a pre-determined pattern resulting in a pattern including discrete regions of SAMs. Similar techniques are also described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,776,748 and 5,976,826, each of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Microcontact printing has also been used to apply other chemical species to surfaces in precise patterns, including electroless deposition catalysts and SAMs serving as optical masks (International Patent Application WO97/34025 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,881).
Electronic data storage involves the transfer of data, for example, computer programs, from one medium to another. Data storage methods are evaluated by a number of criteria, including storage density, which is a measure of the amount of data stored over a given area. The speed with which data can be transferred from one medium to another provides another method of evaluation. Common methods of data storage include electrical, magnetic and optical techniques. For example, optical storage devices such as compact discs and DVDs are capable of storing millions of bits on a single medium. Scanning probe lithography, using one or multiple probes, provides a method of sequentially patterning a surface with electrical charges at a resolution of as low as about 100 nm.